Rhubarb Muffins

Last time I talked about expanding the blog a little bit but the truth is in order to expand the topics covered here, I also have to cut out some things. The sad thing is that I don’t have the time I’d like to devote to blogging, reading other blogs, commenting, etc. anymore. Every time I open my reader (which is probably once a week these days) I feel overwhelmed. There are so many awesome posts, recipes, etc. out there and I just don’t have the time to catch up with them any longer. I don’t really feel connected to the blogging world anymore, if that makes sense. I thought about going on a hiatus for quite some time now but in the end, I don’t think this is what I want to do. So I made another decision. To save some time, I am going back to posting in English only. Since I started blogging so many amazing German blogs popped up and I don’t feel it’s not really necessary to translate my posts anymore. I feel sad about this decision and maybe I am going back to bilingual posts once things slow down again. There are still many German posts in the archives which I am going to keep. Anyway, thank you so much for reading the German entries!

Now for today’s recipe: If I would make these muffins again I would change two things: I would not use muffin liners because the muffins stick. And I would not waste 1/4 cup of whiskey on them because you can’t taste it at all. And maybe not tasting it is a good thing because these are perfect breakfast muffins. Not very sweet and also rather mild you can slice them in half and top them with some vegan butter and jam (or rhubarb compote!). And you won’t have to leave the house tipsy.

Some people have a CSA box, I have a SVB, a secret vegetable and fruit provider. From time to time when I open the appartment door, there’s a bag with fresh vegetables on the door knob. This week I got salsify, ramps, and rhubarb. Of course I know who my secret vegetable santa is. I think I wrote about our neighbour with the huge garden before. And she’s still so kind to share many of her delicious and fresh veggies with us.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Grease 10 holes of a standard muffin pan with oil.
Whisk together agave, coconut oil, and soymilk. In a second bowl whisk together flours, baking powder and salt. Add dry to wet ingredients and whisk again to combine. Fold in rhubarb. Divide batter between the holes and fill them completely. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Note: Since these contain agave, they’ll brown pretty quickly and they will come out a bit darker than regular muffins.

30 comments

hello! i want to try this recipe but was wondering if the coconut oil can be substituted for sunflower/canola oil, or if the firming property of the coconut oil is necessary here. thanx <3

MihlMay 9, 2014 - 09:21

Hi Michele,
I think these shoule be fine with any vegetable oil. Let me know if you try these.

micheleMay 12, 2014 - 06:56

heya mihl, made these today. these are the changes: swapped agave for maplesyrup, rice bran oil for coconut, half and half appel and rhubarb. um..the first success i’ve had with vegan muffins! every time i replace egg with chia or flax the muffins come out really bizarre but these are perfect and fluffy- great recipe :)

MihlMay 12, 2014 - 14:19

That’s great, thank you!

micheleAugust 10, 2015 - 07:00

hi mihl, i made these muffins again today (more than a year later now that i see my earlier comment!)…and thought they were a bit dry. yours don’t look that way at all, so i’m wondering if i might have messed up the recipe by making a slight change. i swapped 3tablespoons of the syrup for 3tablespoons of puree applesauce from the can. also i didn’t have rhubarb, so used some apples and frozen raspberries (not thawed). i baked for 20mins…perhaps my oven is too hot so it dried the muffins out too quick? what do you think? :-)

MihlAugust 10, 2015 - 07:54

I think both the applesauce and the fruits are to blame. Rhubarb is much moister than apple. Also more sugar usually makes things moister, so if you cut out some of it it might affect the texture. But it’s been quite a bit since I made these so I honestly don’t remeber their texture.

micheleAugust 10, 2015 - 08:25

yes ,good point! last time i made these i used rhubarb as per the recipe. i had some leftover applesauce which is why i used it up for this recipe, guess i’ll stick with good ol’ syrup next time. would plain brown sugar work just as well?

MihlAugust 10, 2015 - 15:07

Substituting solid for liquid sweetener can be a bit tricky, too. But I’d just go for it because muffins are usually very forgiving.

When life gets busy — blogging and reading other blogs can feel overwhelming. I completely understand! Your rhubarb muffins look wonderful — I always forget about rhubarb and now have a reason to use it again.

Every year I tell myself that I’m going to use rhubarb. My dad loved it because his mom used to cook with it. Your muffins turned out so perfect and sound delicious! Sorry about the waste of whiskey but actually maybe it was the whiskey that helped with the flavor?

Oh, meant to tell you that made 24 muffin size cakes! The oven is beeping, so I had better get them out and cool them, so I can taste them now!!!!

GudrunApril 23, 2012 - 00:59

Just opened the recipe. My son had just told me yesterday that the rhubarb in the one corner of my late mom’s garden was really growing and had some big stalks on it. So when I opened this, even I have not felt the best, went out to harvest some! I made a double batch. Just put them in the oven. Am anxious to taste them. I had to make some changes since I did not have chick pea flour at home. I used Armaranth flour instead. That is what I had. Then I added a 1/4 cup of ground flax seed to the double recipe, because I had 100 grams extra of rhubarb and was not going to let it go to waste. I thought that would pick up some of the extra liquid from the rhubarb! I use recipes as a guide and try to use what I have at hand. Sometimes that works well and sometimes not so well. But most of the time it is very edible! Thank you for your inspiration. And thank you for continuing your blog. Even if you are unable to do it as often, it is very useful, because you are giving us new ideas! Many of us are in the same boat,so to speak, and are just grateful to see your new recipes occasionally. Of course I was grateful that you are staying with the English, because I can read that much faster. I was born in the US of immigrant parents and spoke German till I went to school at 6. But have never taken it as a language. Europeans are much more advanced in the area of language, which is admirable. My Mom was able to speak 4 different languages. Viele Gruse!

MihlApril 23, 2012 - 06:35

Thank you! I am glad they worked for you. I think the recipe is very adabptable and I like your amaranth flour idea.